Re-Opening: Living Desert Hiking Trails

Take a peaceful stroll near the Palm Desert animal park.

A FALL OPENING: Modern conveniences like air-conditioning and heating units are often cited in the ability of attractions to keep a year-round schedule, but there are still places where the seasons, and their particular qualities, dominate. Think of hard-to-get-to mountain destinations, the kind of locations that receive several feet of snow before Thanksgiving, and think of arid expanses, where truly hot days are the norm for much of the summer. Desert-based spots sometimes observe an autumn-to-spring schedule, especially if such a schedule would make the visit an easier one for visitors. Look to the beautiful...

LIVING DESERT... of Palm Desert, which is both an animal park and a 1,200-acre spread that's full of hiking trails made for exploring (in fact, the bulk of The Living Desert is "undisturbed Sonoran Desert). Those trails are closed in the late spring, and they remain shuttered throughout the toasty summer days. But come the fall, when temperatures around the desert resort are beginning to dip, The Living Desert re-opens the rambling, vista-lush walkways to people who've paid entry. That opening date for 2016 is...

SATURDAY, OCT. 1: You'll want to read up on what to carry — water, yes, for sure — and what "loop" may suit you. The Inner Loop is the shorter one, at 15 minutes, but you can find longer outings in the Middle Loop and Wilderness Loop. Will you walk by an especially fragrant creosote bush? Will you spy a lizard or five? The desert flowers with delights, and autumn only enhances our peaceful, not-too-roasty experience there. Read all before setting out at The Living Desert, and make pre-hiking time to say hello to the the tortoises, and giraffes, and other inhabitants of the beloved park.

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